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The seminar, moderated by District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, will consist of a panel covering topics such as “what is a green home,” energy efficiency rebates, waterwise landscaping, indoor air quality, reducing your energy bills, the Energy Partners free weatherization program and various financial assistance programs available to the public. It will be followed with a question-and-answer session.
"I feel the concept of a 'green my home' seminar is particularly appropriate to Lucerne, where many of the residents are losing their green gardens due to the price of water,” said Rushing. “We will also share ways to actually bring more 'green' both figuratively and literally into our community.”
The “Green My Home” seminar is the first in a series to be held throughout the county. Lucerne was chosen for the first workshop, due to the high number of older homes, the high cost of water, and the number of residents on fixed income.
Free tables will be set up for local related businesses to showcase their products and services, such as solar energy, sustainability products, recycling, etc.
Information will be available to help qualifying low-income residents sign up for various free programs and financial assistance.
Armando Navarro, PG&E’s Customer & Community Relations manager, will present highlights of PG&E’s new Climate Smart Program, a voluntary program designed to help residents offset their carbon emissions. Money from the program is invested in Northern California projects such as reforestation.
"We are hoping to hold a future 'Train the Trainer' workshop, in which interested Lake County residents will be able to set up the same informational program in other communities,” said Rushing. “This is a win-win situation – by greening their homes, local residents will foster a better quality of life, save water, energy and money, and help create a healthier world.”
The “Green My Home workshop” is part of a larger, joint project between PG&E and County of Lake on “Sustainable Communities.” Potential future projects also include creation of a Lake County Climate Action Plan, energy audits for county buildings, educating small businesses on reducing their energy usage and green building workshops.
The seminar is free and open to all members of the public.
Those interested in more information, showcasing their products or services, becoming involved or attending the future “Train the Trainer” workshop are encouraged to contact Holly Harris or Chuck Lamb at 707-998-0135,
The senior center is located on Country Club Drive.
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McMillan was introduced as the Lake County Poet Laureate for 2008-2009, at a Sunday evening event at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery.
She said she plans to continue the traditions established by the previous laureates, including hosting the Writing Circle which meets on the first Thursday of each month.
Her major goal is to provide more venues where local writers can publish and share their work.
She will be a co-host with Richard Martin of a radio show on KPFZ, interviewing and reading the work of local poets and writers.
McMillan has been writing poetry since 1987, when she took a class from Richard Silberg in Berkeley, and was introduced to Poetry Flash Magazine.
She attended Squaw Valley Community of Writers, where she studied with Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Galway Kinnell and Sharon Olds.
She coordinated a San Francisco group of poet alumni from Squaw Valley, which met monthly for four years. During this time, she also published poems in several local publications, including the Santa Clara Review and Tomcat.
In 1997, she got her master's degree in psychology, and four years later, earned her license to practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist.
She moved to Ukiah in 1999, where she practiced as a therapist until, in 2005, she transferred her practice to Lake County, and began writing poetry again.
She has worked as coordinator of a monthly writing group and participated in the Poet Laureate Writing Circle.
E-mail Sophie Annan Jensen at
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In a ceremony to be held on the floor of the Senate Chamber at the State Capitol in Sacramento on the morning of March 12, Wiggins will present Brandon to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, who will give her a certificate honoring her record of civic leadership and contributions to the community and the state.
Brandon, who is also the Political Chair of the Sierra Club's 11,000-member Redwood Chapter and a chapter delegate to the Club's California-Nevada Regional Conservation Committee, has been a strong supporter of federal legislation designating 270,000 acres in the region as Federal Wilderness, and of the 2005 state law naming Cache Creek a Wild and Scenic River.
She is closely involved with Lake County growth management and watershed health issues on an ongoing basis, and currently active in efforts to prevent the threatened closure of Lake County's State Parks, to expand public ownership of open space on Mt. Konocti and to establish an Inner Coast Range National Conservation Area.
"Personal recognition from such an extraordinarily dedicated and able legislator as Pat Wiggins is immensely gratifying, but the honor actually belongs to the Sierra Club Lake Group, and to the other local conservationists committed to making this county the greenest place in California,” Brandon said.
A Lake County resident since 1981, Brandon also is a board member of Tuleyome, a Woodland-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the Putah-Cache bio region, secretary of the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch, and a member of the Cache Creek Watershed Forum steering committee and the Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee.
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LAKEPORT – Five of Lake County's new favorite sons rocked more than 220 of their biggest fans Saturday night, just 10 days before they're scheduled to participate in a huge battle of the bands showdown in Los Angeles.
The result of that competition is worth a million bucks – and a recording contract.
Nearly a fabled group, Faded at Four – Jon Foutch, Chris Murphy, Brian Kenner, Martin “Martan” Scheel and Chris “Pencil” Sanders – have managed during the past year or so to best more than 4,000 other bands invited to the Bodog Battle of the Bands, competition covering the entire country, Canada and Europe.
Their competition, now reduced to a dozen or so, continues in LA with the final eight bands participating in a reality-based TV show that will have the bands competing for national exposure as well as a recording contract and a cash prize of $1 million.
The band, together for more than five years, has yet to score big on the money side of the business. But they have multitudes of fans who crisscross all age groups.
They have a heavy metal sound that includes dynamic lyrics, and timely social and political statements.
I can’t wait to remind people ... I knew them when!
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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Ivan Garcia Oliver, 30, charged with the Nov. 20 murder of 67-year-old Michael Dodele, was in court Monday, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
The Monday court appearance was to set the preliminary trial date, which Hinchcliff reported will be May 13.
Oliver is accused of stabbing Dodele multiple times in the chest with a knife, as Lake County News has reported. The two men lived at the Western Hills Mobile Home Park in the unincorporated area of Lakeport.
The May court date will follow Oliver's next appearance in federal court in Southern California, where he has been indicted for an illegal dumping case.
Melanie Pierson, an assistant attorney with the US Department of Justice, said Oliver was arraigned in Southern California on the illegal dumping charges on Feb. 15, and will return in April for motions and trial setting.
Pierson said the process in the federal court should be fairly rapid; typically, a trial is scheduled within a month of the trial setting and motions. “It's not a long story, it's a short story,” she said.
Oliver and his half-brother are accused of dumping toxic materials into a San Diego County creek in the spring of 2005, not long after Oliver was released from state prison.
He had spent two years in prison for a 2003 conviction for felony assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to cause great bodily injury. Oliver had stabbed a security guard at a restaurant where he and some friends had attempted to skip out on the bill, as Lake County News has reported.
Pierson said the federal trial and any possible sentencing that might result won't interfere with Oliver's murder trial in Lake County.
“He would complete his proceedings in Lake County before he would be sent anywhere,” she said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Lake County’s January 2008 unemployment rate was 10.4 percent, up 0.8 percent from December, and 0.7 percent above the year-ago, January 2007 rate, according to Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department's North Coast region Labor Market Information Division.
The comparable California and U.S. rates were 6.3 and 5.4 percent respectively, Mullins reported.
Some surrounding county rates included 7.2 percent for Mendocino, and 5.2 percent for Sonoma. Marin had the lowest rate in the State with 4.0 percent and Colusa had the highest at 19.6 percent.
Lake County's unemployment rate ranked it at 40th out of the state's 58 counties.
Total industry employment increased 940 jobs (7.1 percent) between January 2007 and January 2008, ending the year-over period with 14,270, according to Mullins.
Mullins noted that year-over job growth occurred in farm; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; financial activities; private educational and health services; other services; and government.
Year-over job losses occurred in natural resources, mining, and construction; professional and business services; and leisure and hospitality, Mullins reported.
The information industry was the only sector with no change over the year, Mullins added.
The government sector led industry gainers adding 760 jobs over the year, Mullins said. Farm and private educational and health services were up 220 and 110, respectively. Trade, transportation and utilities increased 40. Manufacturing and financial activities each gained 20 and other services added 10.
Natural resources, mining and construction led decliners, dropping 100 jobs, according to Mullins. Professional and business services and leisure and hospitality were down 90 and 50, respectively.
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